This invention refers to an apparatus for dissolving boron compounds in a continuous flow of water for treatment and protection from radiation in nuclear emergency situations.
The problem that arose at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan is well known, when the lack of cooling of the different reactors brought about a breakdown in control of the reaction, with the consequences that we are all aware of, triggering diffusion of radioactivity in the whole area, having to evacuate the civil population.
Nuclear power stations make use of a reaction which is catalysed by means of submerging the fuel in a borated water solution. Boron is a neutron capturer which proves ideal for reducing radiation and neutralising the reaction of the nuclear fuel. The use of boron solutions in accordance with the boron concentration in the water enables the fission reaction to be kept stable, increased, or means the reaction can be halted when concentrations are too high.
Primary and secondary circuits and storage pools are cooled with borated water.
At power plants there are usually storage tanks filled with water with dissolved boron compounds, for example boric acid, normally kept at a certain temperature to prevent precipitation and keep the required concentration. These tanks are nevertheless small in size and not able to supply a continuing flow for longer than a few hours in the event of this proving necessary.
It is therefore possible for the installations for supplying borated water not to be available for their use on a sufficient scale at times of emergency when this is required, for which reason there needs to be an external means of supplying borated water for keeping the systems cool and reducing the reaction.
The safety systems of a nuclear power plant include a set of electric accumulators which are able to supply all the systems for a few dozen hours, and also a set of generators, normally activated by diesel engines, which are immediately and automatically activated when any fault in the electricity supply at the plant is detected.
Hence this external cooling will not normally be vital for the first few hours, for which reason it is enough to have the system available some hours after the fault at the plant takes place.
The invention thus proposes a mobile installation for supplying borated water in a continuous flow, comprising means for supplying the water and a device for mixing the relevant components and pumping devices, all contained in cages or containers, for example, 20-foot containers.